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Saturday, June 4, 2016

A FORTUNE TO DIE FOR by Liza O’Connor

A FORTUNE TO DIE FOR

Book 1 of The White Oak-Mafia Series

AUTHOR: Liza O’Connor

GENRE: Contemporary Mafia Suspense Thiller (with touches of humor)

Megan Clarke had a good life until she wins the Mega Times Lottery and discovers the prize comes with a curse. Worse than the many money-hungry suitors, a serial killer has her in his sight. She changes her name and moves to Iowa with plans to buy their last major forest of white oaks and turn it into a State Park. Unfortunately, the Lottery Curse doesn't stop at state lines and someone there wants her dead, as well. Good thing a disturbingly handsome law officer is just as determined to keep her alive.

Megan realized it was going to be a while before Steve would refocus on the package. “Can I get you something to drink? Green Tea with lemon grass?” He looked health conscious. Actually, he looked like a movie star with a crew cut.

He glanced up. “Sounds good.” He then glanced around. “Any place I can sit and read these?”

“Seriously? There’s got to be over two hundred letters in there.”

“I know. Which is why I’d prefer to do this sitting down.”

“Okay, but if this package blows up on a timer, I’m going to be grumpy when I reach the afterlife.”

He chuckled at her warning, set down the letter he was reading, and picked up the package. “If I open this in the next room, will you be safe from blasts?”

“The room is steel-lined, so I think so. But wouldn’t you rather have some sort of robot handle the matter?”

His adorable grin returned. “Oddly, we don’t have one of those.”

“I could buy you one… You could just take the package somewhere safe and leave it unopened until the robot arrives. I have no problem donating the money to get you guys a bomb robot, given this probably won’t be the last time I need one.”

He studied her a long moment before replying. “You know how I got to be a detective so early in life?”

She almost replied that good-looking people lived a charmed life and received promotions more often than less attractive people, but realized he wouldn’t appreciate her observation. So she behaved and answered, “No.”

“I’ve very good instincts. For example, before you replied, you were thinking something…something I wouldn’t like, so you wisely kept it to yourself.”

Her face burned. Busted! “And your instincts tell you the package is safe?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Then take it in the other room and open it.”

Despite his confidence in his instincts, Megan remained on pins and needles for the excruciatingly long half-hour that crawled by as she waited for Detective Williams to return.

Tess Campbell is a mafia princess who wants nothing to do with her dangerous family. She’d rather spend her life making Grams's forest the best state park in Iowa.

Alistair Castile, aka Steel, is a British prince, his archeological career in ruins due to his promiscuous nature. He’s hired on as forest manager of Tess’s woods and quickly falls in love with the charming young woman, so different from the socialites of his world.

Only there are several serious barriers between them: Steel’s career cannot withstand another scandal and Tess’s father will kill anyone who gets in the way of his daughter marrying a Chicago mobster.

Liza O’Connor was raised badly by feral cats, left the South/Midwest and wandered off to find nicer people on the east coast. There she worked for the meanest man on Wall Street, while her psychotic husband tried to kill her three times. (So much for finding nicer people.) Then one day she declared enough, got a better job, divorced her husband, and fell in love with her new life where people behaved nicely. But all those bad behaviors has given her lots of fodder for her humorous books. Please buy these books, because otherwise, she’ll become grumpy and write troubled novels instead. They will likely traumatize you.